There's a positive update on this project -- the Missing Stars team has just released a short story collection called Overture . I first heard about Missing Stars over five years ago. I've become concerned about whether this work-in-progress will be finished, or whether it will be quietly canceled. ...

Master Keaton was adapted into a TV series in the late '90s. It has a number of aspects that I like... * Competent characters over the age of 25 * The main character travels extensively * The series does not try to shock the audience through violence, gore, or death That said, if you don't enjoy ep...

The Persistence of Sanity . This is a blatant reference to Salvador Dali's painting, which shows a horrifying, desolate world of melting clocks. In my opinion, the painting implies that something awful has happened, and that the world no longer makes sense. (I searched the web for this title. It se...

How do we relate to a hero that has to kill the demon lord? Who is the person, and what do they think about their job? Do they consider it a huge burden, and they hate dealing with stress and combat? Do they find it fulfilling, and they believe it's worth the effort in order to overcome evil? Do th...

It looks like Into the Hoop will have several complex gameplay elements, as well as a variety of characters. The scope of the project appears rather daunting. Therefore, I assume it will be a commercial title, or perhaps funded through some means. ...can you make the right decisions with your remain...

You get an unexpected package delivery one day. When you open it, there’s a man inside - but luckily, he comes with instructions! You have your own impressionable boyfriend. It’s your duty to shape him into a proper person… since he’s actually a “doll” with no past exposure to people. My first reac...

Consider reading some of Naoki Urasawa's series. His characters' ages range quite a bit. The artist began drawing comics over thirty years ago. Yawara , Master Keaton , and the relatively dour Monster have been adapted to animation. Takeshi Obata has also created series where major characters have a...

What makes a story boring. As I've said elsewhere, it's difficult to write a story in which the protagonist rarely or never loses. It's interesting to watch characters fight against themselves, or (super)natural forces, or a person. I think it can be boring if a character does not have to work or s...

"The protagonist is one part of an action team." They don't have to create or lead it. Instead, they can just be part of a group of heroic people who are proactive and capable. They get to be a part of a story which focuses on things I've liked in fiction for many years: external conflict, explorati...

Is this passable for my game to be considered less than 18+? What rating would it be? The services which host video games have different guidelines. For instance, there's a detailed page about what iTunes does not permit in apps . I tried to find information about what is permissible on GOG and Ste...

Regarding how long the reader should wait before they choose the protagonist's love interest: * Give the reader enough time to understand who the characters are, and what they want. What kind of people are they when the protagonist is not nearby? Who are their friends, family, foes, and so on? * Let...

Today's word: verisimilitude. It can be used to describe something which happens in fiction, but which seems plausible. In other words, the story seems like it could occur, even though it never happened in real life. Would it be still entertaining if they do something that normal man do in real life...

...newer games of any genre are unable to make a splash unless they have an established audience or have that WOW-factor. What can set a visual novel apart? * The premise is different enough. It doesn't need a gimmick, it can just be memorable. If you look at iTunes or Steam and have a tough time f...

I asked myself "Have I ever cared about a blandly likable protagonist?" Then I remembered Fone Bone from Jeff Smith's comic series Bone . The character is an intentionally simple design who stands out in a world of complex and less cartoonish characters. He gets a few funny lines early in the story....

A reader can proceed through a visual novel at their own pace. They can read as fast or as slow as they want. This is not easy to do when watching film or television. (A person *can* speed up / slow down the video, but it takes effort.) It is possible to set some visual novels to auto mode and just ...